Mosque marriages and nuptial forms among Muslims in Italy

Abstract Relying upon extensive field-collected data, this article discusses the socio-legal reality of Muslim partners in the under-explored Italian context. Paying specific attention to the interplay between civil and religious nuptial forms, it investigates the spectrum of motivations supporting temporarily unregistered Islamic marriages and other de facto mandatory nuptial choices. Voice is given to the inner perspectives of Muslim purported spouses, whilst also investigating the viewpoints of Islamic scholars and diplomatic personnel of Muslim-majority countries. The contribution thus discloses the strategic development of countermeasures to unintentionally compelled non-Islamic cohabitation. ‘Mosque marriages’, as one of the manifold expressions of limited personal agency, reveal a dynamic scenario. On the one hand, the emphasis placed upon the Islamic right-and-duty to marry can conceal power imbalances and bad intentions; on the other, loyalty to co-national migrant Muslims and the need to preserve Islamic ethics can also lead to shadowy forms of marriage.